The George Lazenby Retrospective

I’m a huge James Bond fan. By the time I was 9, I had seen all of the movies, read books, looked for merchandise wherever I could, and then watched the movies again. To this day, I’ve never lost in James Bond Movie Trivia (in any form or fashion), and I’ve played all of the James Bond video games that I’m aware of. Now that we’ve established how much of a loser I was/am, we can get into the foundation of this article. When watching the movies, it’s important to decide who your favorite James Bond is. For many, it’s Sean Connery, because he was the original. For me, it was Pierce Brosnan for a while, because he was amazing in Goldeneye, and very good in the rest. Nobody likes Roger Moore the best, though he had his place in the series, and is still an enjoyable version of the character. George Lazenby was in one film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. He was the replacement to Connery, who after 4 movies decided he was done playing 007. I hated Lazenby immediately, as did many. He never returned to play the role again, and is basically the forgotten Bond, in what has been a career boosting role, and consistent check, for most of the other Bonds. I recently went back and re-watched the movie, and I have to say. I was wrong, and Lazenby was great. Now that we’ve had so many more actors play Bond, and had so many more approaches and takes on the character’s arc, it’s easier to look at Lazenby with less of a judgmental lens, and more of an open mind to his version. He brought a larger frame than Connery, a different charm, more nuance in how he delivered some of the lines, and the movie and plot were genuinely good. It’s a shame he never had another chance, and Connery was immediately brought back to play Bond one more time in Diamonds are Forever (Connery did make a Thunderball remake in the 80’s, but it’s better if we just don’t talk about that). Point being, sometimes it’s tough to appropriately judge performances in the moment due to personal bias, outside forces, being the person who follows the legend (this is certainly a contributing factor to why Lazenby was so universally hated), and many other factors that impact our thoughts and feelings. In this article, I want to review some of the wrestlers who I gave the Lazenby treatment to. For one reason or another, that I disliked in the moment, but now look back fondly on, and wish I had appreciated them more in the moment. Let’s begin!

Johnny Thompson - Oklahoma State 133

So I watched Thompson win his second NCAA title against Ryan Lewis of Minnesota live on ESPN in 2003 while at my wrestling coaches house watching with many of the guys on the team. I was a senior in High School, and had recently finished my High School wrestling career. Many of those in attendance had attended the Jay Rob 28 day Intensive camp at Minnesota, and had come in contact with Lewis, who was by all means a complete and total bad-ass. We wanted Lewis to win, and to beat Thompson badly. Thompson continued to back up, and bait the stalking Lewis into continuing to push the pace, and got a couple takedowns off simple post doubles, taking advantage of Lewis’ aggressive style, as well as diving in on singles and waiting for stalemates. We were bummed, and I had always remembered watching that match and feeling like the wrong wrestler won. However, as I’ve matured, and began to understand how incredible Thompson’s career was, I have softened on my stance. The dude placed 2, 1, 1, 3, in the NCAA tournament, which is something that not too many can boast about. As a 2x defending champ, was upset in his senior season, and still had the mental fortitude to battle all the way back and win a title. Johnny Thompson was legit, and 17 year old me was stupid (for this and a myriad of other reasons).

Daniel Dennis - Iowa 133

I’m starting to at least be able to identify a theme here. Dennis was great at Iowa, and his story of never winning a state championship, but still making Iowa’s starting lineup and being an NCAA finalist and Olympian is awesome. This is not a knock on his personality, which I have since learned is delightful, or his wrestling abilities, which are amazing, or his infamous living in a van (perhaps by a river at one point or another) before qualifying for the Olympics. There were two contributing factors for me not liking him. He beat Franklin Gomez, the MSU returning NCAA Champ (I generally favored Michigan wrestlers when given the chance), and him having a goofy mustache. That’s it. Not really any other reasons than those. Then he ends up in the finals against Ness, and gave up the last second takedown and back points in the finals, which I’m now ashamed to say gave me a lot of joy. However, for all the reasons I mentioned at the top of this breakdown, I really like Daniel Dennis. His technique videos and wrestling videos with the guys in Chattanooga are a blast to watch, and I really like his two on one series. I was wrong about Daniel Dennis, and I’m just fine with that.

J Jaggers - Ohio State 141

This may surprise you, but I actually like a lot of Ohio State wrestlers. If this is your first time reading anything I’ve written, or been exposed to Bloodround, then please allow me to provide some context. I’m from Ann Arbor originally, and went to school at CMU. It makes sense that I would not like Ohio State, but wrestling is a bit different. It’s hard to watch someone who is clearly an amazing wrestler, and simply not like them because of the color of their singlet. In Jaggers case though, I didn’t like him. He’s at the same weight class as Kellen Russel (I didn’t hate Ohio State, but I certainly favored Michigan in the rivalry), who won 4 Big Ten titles, while Jaggers would just cruise through and qualify for the NCAAs, where he made a habit out of winning National Titles. It was insane! This dude, who in my eyes, wasn’t better than Kellen Russel (also his record against Russel would indicate that he was worse), was out here winning national titles! Anyway, I’ve moved on. Winning 2 NCAA titles is a tremendous feat, and fighting his way through the tournament in the fashion he did is equally tremendous. He beat some serious competition on his way to, and through, the finals in each of his runs. Not to mention what he’s been able to do as a coach with the Buckeyes since graduating. He, his resume, and his skinny jeans have earned my respect, and now I actually look fondly back on what was an amazing career, capped off by two iconic tournament runs.

Joe Dubuque - Indiana 125

This one was tough to admit to myself. In trying to think of some good examples for this article, I remembered being in my friends apartment in college and watching the NCAA finals when Joey D beat Kyle Ott in the finals. Being from Michigan, I wanted Nick Simmons to be in the finals, and felt that this was his title. He wasn’t, but this dude from Indiana with insane hair was. Then he wins it! It was not the result I was looking for, so I didn’t like him. Then, despite not being favored in his next year, he wins it again? This dude, with less crazy hair this time, is now a 2x champ? Where is the justice?!?!? These were my thoughts at the time, and being a dumb 19 and 20 year old, those are the kind of thoughts I had all the time. Dumb. That being said, I have since grown to really appreciate what he did. Since Joe has been on the podcast a couple times now, I wanted to give him a heads up that he was going to be in this article. If you’ve never met Joe Dubuque, you can take solace in the fact that he’s one of the nicest dudes I’ve met in the sport. He laughed when I told him about the article, and took genuine pride in his ability to use the doubters as motivation. He mentioned how he was never favored or expected to with either championship, and that he was generally more hated than liked. His fans were from New Jersey, and Indiana, but the rest expected and wanted him to lose. This sort of resilience and defiance is the same things I used to motivate myself when I was competing. I didn’t have anywhere near the same levels of success, but it’s just cool to see someone use the haters own disbelief to prove them wrong. Joe also talked with me about how he uses the same tactics when motivating some of his wrestlers at Princeton, where he and coach Ayers have developed a truly impressive program. Joe Dubuque is the man, and don’t ever lose sight of it like I did.

This was a fun piece for me to write. Humility is a great quality to have, along with conviction, and the flexibility to amend your thoughts and ideas for better ones. It’s what helped me review what I thought before, and admit where I was wrong. I also think it’s a quality that’s helped each one of these athletes be coach-able, and to reach the peaks in their careers, and outlast the valleys. Thanks for joining me on this James Bond inspired journey. Never forget, George Lazenby deserves more credit, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is essential to the Bond franchise, and Johnny Thompson, Daniel Dennis, J Jaggers, and Joe Dubuque are awesome. Rock On.